Public May Yet Be Heard
The Sag Harbor School Board appears poised to reverse its policy against the video recording of public comments at its meetings.
On Monday, the school board took up its annual review of videotaping, and all seven members eventually said they would support what some have called “gavel to gavel” recording. The last time this came up for a vote, the board’s 4-to-3 vote fell against taping the public portion of meetings, based in part on concern that the district could get in legal trouble over what people might say.
Chris Tice, the board vice president, was the first to advocate changing the policy. She called public comments a key part of the meeting and noted that “there is very, very limited liability” resulting from potentially controversial comments made by members of the public.
“We’ve been told we can’t find any district that has been sued and lost a lawsuit in New York state based on having their meetings videotaped, which is much more common now than even two years ago when we started this discussion,” Ms. Tice said.
Tommy John Schiavoni, a board member who previously voted against videotaping the public sessions, said he supported the change. “Since we put the videotaping policy in place . . . people simply stopped coming to the meetings,” he said. He changed his mind, he said, “in order to lure people back to the meetings.”
Some board members appeared to have reservations. Sandi Kruel suggested the district’s business administrator should “give us the bill for the amount of time someone calls the attorney” regarding a potentially questionable comment. She also said she would support recording public comments “as long as we’re able to shut it down and use that gavel” in case the situation gets out of control. Elena Loreto, a resident of Sag Harbor, had advocated for the policy change at the start of the meeting. “How can you folks be held responsible for someone else’s speech? It really doesn’t make quite a lot of sense to me.”
The board may vote on the policy change as soon as its next meeting, which is set for Sept. 21. The modified policy would then go into effect for the following meeting, scheduled for Oct. 5.
Seek Committee Members
The board announced Monday that it is seeking parents and other residents to serve on several committees that have been charged with making recommendations to the school board this year. Included are committees on athletics; nutrition, wellness, health, and safety; communications; facilities planning, and for a Wall of Honor and the Community Coalition.
“Members of the community with the requisite knowledge may serve on a committee,” Susan Kinsella, the school board president, said in a letter dated Tuesday.
Those who are interested can write to Mary Adamczyk, the district clerk, by email at madamczyk@sagharborschools. org or by mail to the Sag Harbor Union Free School District, 200 Jermain Avenue, Sag Harbor 11963. The deadline is Sept. 15.